ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Restaurant Name: Bharat Bhavan, Balewadi, Pune
Phone: +919503610300, +919503180900
Address: S. No. 20, Unit 7, Balewadi Tech Park, next to Balewadi High Street, Pune, Maharashtra 411045 India
Time: 11:30 AM – 04:00 PM, 07:00 PM – 11:30 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 900
Cuisines: North Indian, South Indian, Goan, Bengali, Awadhi
Facilities: Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Full Bar Available, Table booking recommended, Indoor Seating
Housed in the newly opened Panchshil Tech Park adjacent to Balewadi High Street, Bharat Bhavan is a new-age Indian restaurant. Through a beautifully curated menu, they aim to highlight some lesser known regional delicacies from different parts of the country.
Bharat Bhavan, Balewadi, Pune: Decor
The decor is an excellent mix of elegant and classic with modern and contemporary. The crockery and table decor is handpicked carefully to suit the theme. The seating is comfortable and an eclectic mix of wooden chairs, accent chairs and sofas. The fabric used for the chairs, sofas and cushions is top quality cotton with floral and paisley motifs. This attention to detail continues with the well fitting ikkat jackets worn by the staff. The walls are a mix of mint green and pale pink and are adorned with India-themed contemporary wall art. There is a variety of quirky yet beautiful hanging lamp shades, chandeliers and standing lamps throughout the space.
Bharat Bhavan, Balewadi, Pune: Food
Both the drinks and food menus are innovative and have been curated well. Dishes from across the country are handpicked by the team to represent some lesser known cuisines of India. As an attempt to revive the sharbat and soda concept, they offer the Bharat Bhavan sharbats. We tried and simply loved the rose hip and mogra sharbats. We spent some time browsing and admiring the names and description of their cocktails. After a lot of deliberation, we picked the ones that stood out. It was great to see a great variety of vegetarian options throughout the menu. From the chaats and street food section we picked the chatpati shakarkand ki bhel, a bhel made from sweet potato salli and murmura and the unique and creative namkeen rasmalai ki chaat, flattened chhena soaked in malai yoghurt served with with chaat accompaniments and topped with pudina and imli chutneys. Everyone immensely enjoyed the lauki ka seekh, a kebab made with bottle gourd, paneer and dry fruits mince. The shahi nadru ke kebab sounded great on the menu but was under seasoned and overall underwhelming. The Dungarwali murg ki seekh was cooked beautifully. The mince had the right amount of cardamom and the meat was moist. One of the best dishes we tried was the tandoori bataer. The quails were marinated lightly and beautifully roasted on a charcoal grill with a hint of ajwain. We simply could not resist the soft and fluffy ghee masala appam which was drizzled with podi and served with coconut chutney. Before we ordered the mains, an ‘achaar server‘ arrived at our table with four different types of pickles in mason jars placed in a cane basket, which we tried. For mains,we kept it simple. The makkhan malai kofta had koftas stuffed with dill and butter that when cut, oozed melted butter in the rich tomato gravy. This paired perfectly with the light and airy zafrani naan. The chicken cafreal was tasty but had an overpowering taste of the spices. Indian breads do not pair well with cafreal and wish there was a Goan poee to go with this. The Lucknowi lagan ki boti was the best of the lot. Cubes of mutton cooked beautifully in a robust and flavorful gravy enjoyed best with a warqi paratha. With hardly any space we ordered only the khubani ka meetha. It had pureed apricots mixed with creamy mascarpone and was topped with roasted dry fruits. A perfect end to our meal.
Plus & Minus:
Bharat Bhavan impresses immensely with its contemporary,elegant and India rooted ambience. The staff is friendly and courteous. As the place is newly opened, there were some teething issues with the service on a few instances. But the delicious food, the plating and presentation more than made up for those minor glitches. Bharat Bhavan is one of the few places in the area which is family friendly as it is surrounded by numerous bars and pubs.
